ziggy marley. "nightline" is next. good night. tonight on "nightline," the controversial case of he said, she said, as the college football star charged with raining a classmate speaks out for the first time. the dramatic testimony that could seal his fate. jesus christ superstar. from reality tv pioneer to remaking the oldest stories ever told. tonight, the man who brought us "survivor" talks about taking on the bible with his wife who was

touched by an angel. extreme airport rage caught on tape. the viral video raising the question, has travel outrage reached a boiling point? >> keep it right

from new york city, this is "nightline" with cynthia mcfadden. >> good evening, and thanks for joining us. tonight, the divisive case setting the internet ablaze, pitting a popular college football star against a classmate who says he rained her. for the first time, the quarterback took the stand to tell his side of a high profile he said, she said story, but will it save him from prison? here's abc's lindsay davis. >> reporter: jordan johnson, the former star quarterback at the

university of montana, is accused of raining a former acquaintance. it's being called a classic case of he said, she said. he says he had consensual sex. she says it was rape. the case has divided the university and surrounding college town in western montana. today on the stand, he suggested he's not guilty. >> we had consensual sex. i would never do that to anyone. >> reporter: the incident happened last february, but it wasn't until more than a month later that the alleged victim, whose name isn't being reported, told authorities he raped her. >> he grabbed on to my hips, he just started pulling my body into his again and again and again. it hurt so bad. >> reporter: according to the 21-year-old's affidavit, she sent a text message to a friend shortly after the encounter saying omg, i think i might have just gotten raped. he kept pushing and pushing and i said no but he wouldn't listen. according to court documents,

the next day she got a medical exam and the prosecution says they discovered bruises. johnson admits that on the night of the incident, he initiated contact with the woman via text that says "hey." he says she later invited him to watch a movie in her room and ultimately picked him up. he says about 15 minutes into the movie they started kissing on her bed and things quickly escalated. >> she asked me if i had a condom. i said no and she said it's okay. >> did she say no? >> no, if she would have i would have said no. >> reporter: but according to her account, she said she didn't want to have sex and repeatedly told him no, not tonight. >> what was your expectation of him coming over to watch a movie? >> hang out with him. >> reporter: the prosecution argues shortly after johnson arrived in her room, things got ugly. >> he changed. his demeanor changed. he became more aggressive, and in her words, it got real scary

real fast. >> reporter: she says he told her turn over or i'll make you. johnson admits at one point he did turn her over, but they were just changing positions. but johnson's attorney was quick to point out -- >> did you think she was into it? >> yes. >> and why? >> she was moaning. >> reporter: the defense describes the victim as a spurned woman who was jealous of a relationship johnson was having with another woman he recently started seeing. >> i was kind of starting to think about kelly. and i didn't want her to know that i had sex with another girl. >> reporter: the defense also points out the long delay in reporting the incident is significant, but psychologists say it's not unusual. >> it is common for survivors of sexual assault to delay reporting to police. they may be blaming themselves or be fearful of the unknown. >> reporter: rape is said to be the most common violent crime on american college campuses today, and in the overwhelming majority of those cases, the rape is be an acquaintance, not a stranger.

>> every two minutes, somebody in the u.s. is sexually assaulted, and nearly half of survivors are under the age of 18. women in college years are at the highest risk for this crime. >> reporter: guilty or not, the allegation alone has been life-changing for the former starting quarterback. it's not only suspended johnson's promising football career, he led the grizzlies to an 11-3 season as a sophomore and threw six touchdowns in one game. but it's also impacted his family. >> it's very hard to deal with. not just me, but my family. i don't even remember what it's like to be normal. >> reporter: johnson is charged with sexual intercourse without consent, a felony with a maximum sentence of 100 years in prison. >> his testimony was absolutely crucial. but more to see if he slipped up. and the fact that he survived

the cross-examination relatively unscathed is a big win for the defense in this case. >> reporter: the defense points to her conflicting text messages to support their argument. in one text to a friend, she wrote i don't think he did anything wrong. and in a message to a friend on facebook, she wrote "maybe i wanted it." are her text messages the biggest obstacle for the prosecution? >> when she says "i don't think he did anything wrong," even if you put that into context, even if you explain why she would have said that, that's a real problem for prosecutors in this case. >> reporter: the case is playing out against the backdrop of investigations by the u.s. justice department and the ncaa and it's made national headlines. some calling it trial by twitter because bloggers are feverishly tweeting play by play updates about every word and mooumt in the courtroom. but it's a jury that will ultimately decide as early as friday. for "nightline," i'm lindsay

davis in new york. just ahead, from "survivor" to "shark tank" to the bible? the king of reality shows tells me about his surprising new project, taking on the good book. more than two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. and every day since, we've worked hard to keep it. today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy. we've shared what we've learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. bp's also committed to america. we support nearly two-hundred-fifty thousand jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger.

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mark burnett is widely considered the godfather of reality television, the man behind ground breaking shows like "survivor" and "shark tank." but it's his next project that could be the most surprising of all, a series about the bible.

teaming up with his wife roma downey, the star of "touched by an angel," it's a family affair and a leap of faith, as they told me in this candid interview. >> behold his mighty hand. >> ever since charlton heston parted the red sea in "the ten commandments," hollywood has had a thirst for more. and now, someone thinks they can do it better. >> you're fired. >> not donald trump, but the guy who made him a tv star. reality show guru mark burnett. who changed the television landscape with "survivor." >> it was to become the ultimate human experiment. >> now he's taking on a project truly biblical in scale. recreating the stories of the bible, from genesis to revelation. spread out over ten hours and five sundays on the cable channel history.

to pull it off, he asked for a little help from above. >> i put some muscle in it. >> roma downey, star of the now tv classic "touched by an angel" and burnett's real life wife. you're a famous angel. you're not so famous as an angel. >> i'm married to an angel. >> but he's been touched by an angel. >> what is the guy who created "shark tank" and "survivor" -- what is he doing doing the bible? >> the bible is the foundation of this nation. >> i mean, we have run into people that have thought, believe it or not, that joan of arc was noah's wife. or that sodom and gomorah lived happily ever after. >> we haven't made any shows

that aren't for families. >> we have three teenagers. they said oh please, whatever you do, don't make the special effects lame. >> we showed our kids "the ten commandments." they were rolling their eyes. >> they couldn't wait to get out of the room. >> are you guys kidding? really, what we've done for 2013 is brought fresh visual life into the greatest story ever told. >> follow me! >> one of the great debates is whether the bible stories are literal or whether they're symbolic. are they stories to you, or literally true? >> there's only one way to approach this. you have to take the bible to fact. >> any hesitation? because this is -- it's well-trod terrain, and it's also treacherous. martin scorsese, mel gibson. many people have wrecked their

ships, at least temporarily, on these shores. >> well, listen, making the bible as a series brings with it a huge responsibility. we had over 40 theologians and academics advising us to make sure that we were accurate and always telling the stories within the spirit of the book. >> they're not modest in their predictions about the impact of their new series. >> i'm telling you, millions will either open the bible, or reopen the bible. millions and millions. maybe a billion. >> a billion new people may open the bible? >> i think to be honest with you, because i'm a very blunt person, i think a billion is a low number. >> even with an angel as one of the executive producers, everything has not been easy. >> we were only about four, six weeks away from beginning principal photography and we had not yet cast the role of jesus. to say that we were anxious of that would be an understatement.

i sent out an e-mail, and the headline on e-mail was "looking for jesus." and, you know, prayer works. and we found the most wonderful actor, a portuguese actor who has breathed such beauty and strength. >> jesus was cast, but they were still stumped when it came to who would play his mother. >> i went over to morocco with my producer's hat firmly on my head. at mark's encouragement really, he said i think you're not seeing the obvious. >> downey herself stepped into the role. there are a few real world problems to overcome, too. like the snakes. >> we had so many snakes on our moroccan set that we had to have a man to come in and clear the locations of snakes and

scorpions. >> these are not garden snakes. >> no, no. these are cobras and vipers. >> but one snake would be cast in a starring role as satan, which meant they'd have to take their new jesus into letting the snake crawl over him. >> i said to roma, you lay down. let's let that big snake crawl across you. we'll take video and photos of it. we'll show that to him. there's no way he can say no when he sees that you've done it. and that's what worked. >> is that what you did? >> that's what i did. i took one for the team. >> i'm still on the snake crawling across you. just slow down here. >> and as the "survivor" family, there has to be a little competition. on the horizon, a whole new slew of hollywood productions are launching based on the bible. spielberg doing "moses." will smith "cain and able."

and russell crowe as noah. >> saying our arc is bigger than your arc. >> so have the kids seen it yet? >> here's the best news of all. is last week, two of our kids agreed to screen a portion of it last week for their entire high school. >> and said what was the most heard comment from your fellow teens at your school? they said that's really cool. so we felt hey, we've got something right. you know what? the bible, it's really cool. >> i am coming soon. >> "the bible" premieres on the history channel this sunday. and speaking of biblical proportions, this is the crowd today that cheered on pope benedict xvi as he made his historic departure from the vatican. we'll have the latest from rome next.

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today in vatican city, a day unlike any other in the past 600 years, as thousands upon thousands gathered to bid farewell to a retiring pope, benedict xvi. right there with them, my co-anchor terry moran, who brings us the latest from rome. terry? >> greetings from rome, cynthia. benedict xvi had a hard act to follow. john paul ii, one of the most charismatic leaders of the 20th century, and benedict's papacy has been a troubled one. but today on his last full day as pope, all ull that seemed to matter was that he was there with the faithful one final time. it was a sweet swan song on a

glorious roman morning. a huge throng of pilgrims turned out for pope benedict xvi's final audience and as he drove through the crowd one last time, they pressed forward, they cheered, they reached out to him in fond farewell to this soft spoken old man who shepherded the catholic church for almost eight turbulent years, and who now is laying aside the keys. he spoke to the pilgrims, to the listening world personally. nostalgic at times, but also recalling difficult moments. the scandals and troubles. there have been times when the seas were rough and the wind against us, he said, as in the whole history of the church, it has ever been and the lord seemed to sleep. but he kept the faith and won their hearts. what a scene it was back there. we're joined now by christiane amanpour. first, pope benedict xvi.

his legacy, what do you think? >> i think that he's going to be known as a very intellectual pope, a pope who deeply loved the church, who deeply believed in his faith. not a charismatic pope like john paul ii. not this person who really had this cult following like a rock star and who created a rock papacy. and pope benedict had a hard act to follow. but today, a man who doesn't usually wear his heart on his sleeve did to an extent. you could see the emotion. you could see that he was struggling not just with what he said was the joy of his ministry and of his papacy, but also the difficulty and the struggles he hadiya pendleton. particularly he talked about the choppy waters, and of course referring to the problems that have rocked the catholic church. the frightful sex abuse scandal that erupted first in the u.s. and then came here under his papacy. his attempts to deal with it. but not having finished the job,

and people wanting to clean house and to move on from this thing that has so damaged the church. >> let me ask you to put on your global affairs anchor hat. for catholics, obviously this is an important moment. a beautiful moment in many ways. for non-catholics around the world, why does this matter? >> well, you know, i think -- and i've thought about this a lot -- i'm a roman catholic, and yet the pope has always been a statesman. he's always been somebody who doesn't just minister to roman catholics, but his movements, his pronouncements, what he says, what he does, where he goes, the fact that he's visited and sought out by all world leaders makes him much more than that. so what he does and says affects many other faiths as well. it matters because it's 1.2 billion souls in the world. he's the only faith leader in the world with such a big flock. and as i say, who else rules a billion people other than the heads of china and india? >> a major, major news event for

catholics and non-catholics alike. thanks very much. so, cynthia, tomorrow is the departure of benedict xvi, and then begins the discussions about who comes next. we'll be here. back to you. >> and our thanks to you, terry, and christiane. it's time now for our closing arguments. it's a case of wild airport rage caught on tape. a chinese official kicking walls and throwing computers at an airline check-in counter. while his temper tantrum is extreme, many can sympathize with his frustration. but is blowing your lid like this ever justified? you can weigh in on "nightline's" facebook page or tweet us. thank you for watching abc news. good night, america.